CDG: time between connections

I would like to schedule a TGV reservation for 2 hours 10 min. after my arrival at CDG, same concourse as TGV station. If I purchase an exchangeable/refundable ticket am I OK with this plan? The next TGV would leave 3or 4 hours later and get me to my hotel quite late.

This will be the first week of April on a Friday. Busy time at CDG?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

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in what train station will you take your tgv?

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I will be catching the TGV at the TGV station in the airport. It%26#39;s in terminal 2 and my flight arrives at terminal 2 as well. The walk should be short (I%26#39;m guessing), it%26#39;s the security and customs I%26#39;m worried about. Thanks.

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well there are security controls before people coming into the plane but generally not when people are leaving the plane, usually customs control are not very long (except if many planes would arrive in the same time but even in this case 20 minutes should be a maximum), so normally 1 hour should be sufficient after your arrival (pick up your luggage, customs, find the train station)

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I hope it%26#39;s okay to tack a related question on here, but can you tell me which terminal BA flights from Heathrow would be coming into CDG? I%26#39;ve only flown into CDG from the US before. (Also, with regards to security, is it any faster at CDG if you%26#39;ve already gone through the LHR/UK? )

We won%26#39;t be taking the TGV as we%26#39;re heading north/northwest to Caen or Bayeux, but up till now I thought that we had to go into Gare du Nord and then back out to hop on a train.

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Your flight from LHR will *probably* arrive at Terminal 2B. I%26#39;m not quite clear if you are arriving on a connecting flight from the US or if you will have been in London before flying to Paris, but it really doesn%26#39;t make much difference. Dealing with the necessary formalities at CDG should not take more than a few minutes.

It is generally a lot worse when arriving direct from the US because many of those planes will use a remote stand from which passengers must be bussed to the terminal. If a lot of US flights arrive very close together, which is often the case, it can sometimmes take an hour or more from the time your wheels touch the runway until you have cleared immigration and are ready to claim your baggage and proceed through customs. Customs is usually nothing more than a glance from a half-asleep officer, if that much.

You will not be able to take a train from CDG to Caen or Bayeux. Only TGVs leave from CDG and then only a limited number on selected routes. You will need to get to Gare St. Lazare in Paris, not Gare du Nord. The easiest way to do this if you have significant luggage will be an official Taxi Parisien from outside the terminal. The fare will probably be around 45€. There are less expensive ways to get there if you are travelling light — somewhere between ~8€ and ~15€ each depending on which method you choose — but G. St. L. is a bit awkward to get to by public transport from CDG.

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Thanks, Rovr. Yes, we%26#39;re on a separate flight into LHR from the States. Haven%26#39;t even bought our tickets for France yet (we plan on spending no time in UK). From what I read everywhere, once you really crunch the numbers, and still add to the equation of %26quot;time vs. money,%26quot; we%26#39;re better off flying directly from LHR (which means higher costs b/c the EasyJet, et al. don%26#39;t fly from there) to Paris and paying a few dollars more. The alternative is either transferring to Stansted/Luton and flying to Paris, or transferring from LHR to Waterloo to get on a train and taking it to Caen, from which we%26#39;ll rent a car.

- Fly into LHR

Option 1: transfer to Waterloo via taxi/shuttle and get on train to Caen via Paris. Rent car in Caen.

Option 2: transfer to EasyJet/Ryanair airport via taxi/shuttle and fly into Paris and rent car and drive to Caen/Bayeux

Option 3: fly from LHR on BA to CDG and rent car and drive to Caen/Bayeux.*

It seems obvious when I typed it out, but would you agree with Option 3?

*You mentioned that we%26#39;d likely fly into Terminal 2B: is renting a car better, worse, or the same from here? What about taking a taxi outside of the airport to hotel location and renting the car from there. There%26#39;s three separate incomes on this trip so everything is split by three...in other words, a reasonably priced cab ride is not worrisome to us.

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%26quot;It is generally a lot worse when arriving direct from the US because many of those planes will use a remote stand from which passengers must be bussed to the terminal. ..%26quot;

Why is this? Is the terminal still under construction?

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Assuming you have already purchased your RT tix to LHR...

I don%26#39;t think options 1 or 3 make a lot of sense. Leaving aside all the travel time (I think it might take you 7-8 hours to travel from LHR to Caen by train with all the transfers) you would probably end up spending more money than if you just flew from LHR to CDG. BA is not your only option. BMI also flies this route www.flybmi.com as does Air France.

I am now about to be obnoxious. I urge you VERY STRONGLY not to pick up a car in Paris, however you get there, after a long and tiring journey crossing six time zones. Your judgment, perception and reaction times are all *seriously* negatively affected by the combination of jet-lag and fatigue. You would be driving a strange car on roads you do not know with signage and traffic conventions you are ufamiliar with. Someone close to me is lucky to have survived a serious accident withing 20 minutes of leaving the airport in his own car on roads he knew very well in similar circumstances. He did not fall asleep, merely misjudged a developing situation, reacted too slowly and probably incorrectly, and ended up rolling his car three times. Had it not been a German-built tank of a car...

And he is not the only one by a long way...

So, either fly to CDG and take the train to Caen and pick up your car the next day, or spend a night in Paris and pick up your car there after a good night%26#39;s sleep, or...

Incidentally, there is a ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, or to be more exact to Ouistreham, about 15km from Caen. I think there is even an overnight ferry. The site is brittanyferries.co.uk IIRC. If this doesn%26#39;t work a google should turn it up.

Yes, part of T2 at CDG is still under reconstruction and there is ongoing rebuilding at T1 also.

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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt; I don%26#39;t think options 1 or 3 make a lot of sense. %26lt;%26lt;%26lt;

I meant options 1 or 2. Option 3 seems to me to make the most sense except for the car thing...

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Thanks for all your help Irish. Last question (not really, but I%26#39;ll try). In order to take the train to Caen/Rouen, is my only option to go to Gare du Nord from CDG? If so, how long does that take?